Category Archives: Psychology

What Makes Humans Unique?

Posted on 2020-11-01

There are many features of humans that differentiate us from all other species, but there is one that stands out to me as a key influence for many of the others and the main reason for our huge success as a species, and that is our practice of the Division of Labour, facilitated through trade1. We are the only species where each individual specialises, and depends on the specialised skills and resources of other unrelated individuals for their survival2. Continue reading →

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Are Humans Special?

Posted on 2020-11-01

We instinctively believe there is something which sets humans apart from other species. One day I was thinking about why it is we think this, and it suddenly occurred to me the most obvious reason – It’s because we ARE humans! Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Philosophy, Psychology | Leave a comment

From Sex Cells to Gender Behaviours and Mating Systems

Posted on 2020-03-21

In a previous post, ‘Why 2 sexes?’, I explained a hypothesis for why the sexes first diverged (the original asymmetry was that the females pass on the mitochondria to their offspring whereas the males don’t). In this post I want to hypothesise and speculate1 in more detail about how this initial asymmetry could naturally lead to the (statistical) differences between male and female behaviours and roles with which we are familiar with today, in the context of the species’ mating system. Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Philosophy, Psychology | Leave a comment